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Lest We Forget: Homefront, VF-51 (Part 1)

Homefront

While still a young girl, Doris Biorseth left South Dakota in the summer of 1941 and headed west, settling in Washington, where, for a time, she worked in a boarding house making beds. When the opportunity came along, she took a job as a supply clerk at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, beginning work on 1 December. Less than a week later, on a Sunday morning, Doris awoke to a very different world.

On learning that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor, her first impulse was to return to South Dakota, where there would be a lot of land between her and this frightening new enemy. But the man who would soon become her husband, Ortis Husby, convinced her to stay, and for the rest of the war Doris remained at the shipyard, doing her part for the war effort. Unlike today, when a global war is experienced primarily by those Americans who volunteer to serve and by those who choose to fly in commercial airplanes, war in the 1940s meant a very different way of life for nearly everyone. Many things, such as shoes, sugar, and butter, were rationed. The sky was filled with barrage balloons to thwart enemy aircraft, and hanging on a hook beneath Doris' desk was a gas mask. As a civilian working on secret torpedo components, Doris' husband was fortunate enough to have a "C" card for gasoline, but he was required to have three passengers in his car as he rode to and from work. Doris worked 6 days a week—with only Sundays off—while Ortis worked a schedule of seven days on, one day off.

Doris watched in silent awe as American naval vessels steamed into the shipyard with huge holes marking the paths of kamikazes. She listened to young Sailors sitting on the trash can in her office as they confessed their fears and told of the horrors of war, while waiting for her to process their requisitions so they could get their ships ready for sea again. When the war ended in victory and torpedoes were no longer so important, Doris's husband was out of work. No GI Bill for Ortis or for Doris. No victory parades for those who quietly served, filling requisitions or building secret mechanisms. Lest we forget, sacrifices and patriotism and important contributions are not the realm of the military alone.

—Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)

VF-51 (Part 1)

Fighter Squadron 51 (VF-51) was established as Fighting Squadron One (VF-1) on 15 February 1943, beginning a 27-year membership as a unit of Carrier Air Group Five (CVG-5). VF-1 was redesignated VF-5 on 15 July 1943. Equipped with F6F-3 Hellcat fighters, VF-5 operated from the USS Yorktown (CV-10) and engaged Japanese forces beginning in August 1943, striking Marcus and Wake Islands. During 1944 VF-5 participated in the invasion of the Marshall Islands and raided Truk, Palau, Hollandia, and the Marianas. The squadron downed more than 90 Japanese aircraft in ten months of combat. Switching to F4U-1D Corsairs, VF-5 returned to combat in March 1945 on board the USS Franklin (CV-13), but the deployment was cut short when the Franklin was severely damaged by Japanese bombs.

After World War II, VF-5 switched to F6F-5s and was redesignated VF-5A on 15 November 1946. After a 1947 Western Pacific deployment with F8F-1 Bearcats, VF-5A was redesignated VF-51 on 16 August 1948. In November, VF-51 became the first operational squadron to fly the FJ-1 Fury jet fighter. In July 1950, VF-51—equipped with F9F-2 Panthers on the USS Valley Forge (CV-45)—became the first Navy squadron to fly jets in combat and scored the Navy's first aerial kills of the Korean War. VF-51 deployed twice more to Korea, on the USS Essex (CV-9) with F9F-2Bs and on the Valley Forge with F9F-5s.

Over the next 10 years, VF-51 operated F9F-6 Cougars, FJ-3 Furies, F11F-1 Tigers, F4D-1 Skyrays, and F8U-1 Crusaders, making five deployments. In 1964, flying F-8E Crusaders from the USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14), VF-51 flew secret missions over Laos and retaliatory strikes against North Vietnam following the Tonkin Gulf incident. VF-51 made six more deployments to the Tonkin Gulf, operating F-8Es, F-8Hs, F-8Js, and F-4B Phantom IIs in succession from four carriers: the Ticonderoga , USS Hancock (CVA-19), USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31), and USS Coral Sea (CVA-43), the last with Carrier Air Wing 15 (CVW-15). The Screaming Eagles lost only one F-8E, one F-4B, and three crewmen to enemy action. VF-51 F-8E pilots shot down two MiG-21 jets in 1968. VF-51 F-4B crews downed four MiG-17 fighters in 1972.